Tough Break
by pikapikatchu
Summary: When Greg investigates a suspicious murder of a prison inmate, hell ensues. The CSI finds himself in the middle of a nasty prison riot and it's all Nick's fault.
1. Chapter 1

"I already made plans for the weekend, I can't!" Nick was desperately arguing with Russell as he was walking alongside him through the lab's halls.

"I'm sorry, but it comes with the job, you know that. Sometimes we have to cancel our plans and help out a little." Russell was trying to be sympathetic but needed Nick to fill in for Sara.

"I know. It's not like I never helped out before. We're all being in here much too often when we aren't supposed to be and I'm sick and tired of it. I want a life outside these walls!"

"I'm sure Sara appreciates your help. You don't want her to miss her great aunt's funeral, do you?"

Nick sighed. "Of course not. But... What about him?" Nick pointed at Greg who was just walking past them.

The younger CSI stopped and turned around to them with raised eyebrows. "What about me?"

"Do you have any plans for the next weekend?"

"Well, I was planning to get out of town for a few days and..."

Nick quickly interrupted him. "See? He's got time."

"I didn't say that, I..."

"No." Now it was Russell who interrupted Greg. "You have seniority, Nick. And Greg filled in the last few times you or Sara took time off. Now's your turn."

Nick gave both men a sad look. "But Russell, I..."

"That's my final word," he said as he pushed some files into Nick's hands.

When Russell walked off, Nick gave Greg an annoyed look before walking away from him.

"...What? It's not my fault, don't give me that look!" Greg walked away quite angrily.

After both walked a few steps in opposite directions, Nick decided to run after Greg. "Come on. You can get your getaway weekend any time."

"And you got something important to do?" Greg snickered.

"As a matter of fact, I do. I planned a special romantic weekend with Lauren. It's our anniversary."

"...You've been dating for what, two months?"

"Three." Before Greg could roll his eyes, Nick went on. "She's into that kind of stuff. I planned this three weeks ago!"

"Well maybe you should've reminded yourself that it's a bad idea to plan that far ahead with your job. You never know what's going to happen and..."

"Spare me the preaching. Russell did it already. I'm asking you as a friend. Please help me!"

"Russell also told you that I filled in the last few times. I haven't had a free weekend in six weeks."

Nick sighed annoyed. He knew Greg was right, but he also wanted to be able to enjoy his weekend with his new girlfriend Lauren. "Fine. Whatever."

* * *

Nick and Greg didn't run into each other for the next few hours until they met in the break room. Nick was sitting at a laptop as Greg walked in. "What are you doing?" he asked while making his way to the coffee machine.

"Canceling my trip." Nick didn't show too many emotions in his voice, but Greg knew what was going on inside his friend.

"Where did you plan on going?"

"Long Beach."

"...Sounds nice."

"We planned to stay at a great hotel, relax on the beach all day, you know?"

"Mhm..."

"She's never been to the beach before. I'm sure she would've loved it."

Greg was starting to feel bad for Nick. He liked Lauren and wanted the relationship to work, after all. He sighed deeply. "Nick, stop what you're doing."

"...Why?"

"Because you're going. I'm sure I'll hate myself for this but... I'll tell Russell I'll fill in for you."

* * *

"Well, I guess it's just us today..." Russell sat down at the table in the break room opposite Greg. "You know I don't agree with your choice, right? I don't think it was smart to help Nick out again."

"I know, but I felt sorry for him and Lauren."

"Yeah but you're painfully overworked."

Greg shrugged. "I can take it. I got Monday and Tuesday off."

"I hope so. I don't want your work performance to suffer because of it."

The younger CSI shook his head.

"Alright, then... You'll get the easier case. Murder in prison."

"Easier?"

"Yeah well, there's only so many suspects inside a prison, right?" Russell smiled. "But we can trade if you want to. Robbery turned murder at a gas station."

He quickly shook his head again, smiling. "No thanks, I'll stick to the prison murder, then."

Russell nodded. "Take Hodges with you. You could use a hand and he's been getting on my nerves for the last few days. It'll do us all good if he stayed away from the lab for a few hours."

* * *

"Can't you hurry it up a bit?" Hodges was nervously walking up and down inside the prison cell Greg was processing. The victim was still lying there.

"I'm working as fast as I can. I don't plan on staying here any longer than needed, either. Relax, it'll only be half an hour or so."

"...Another half hour?! We've been here almost two!"

"We have to wait for David to be able to move the body. He's stuck in traffic."

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me." Hodges was getting more and more tense.

"You know what? Here, take this to the lab. You're only making me nervous, too." He handed Hodges a bag full of evidence.

"**I'm **making you nervous? Not the small cell or knowing that the criminals are only a door away from here?"

"It's not my first time investigating a crime in a prison, you know. You get used to it."

"Yeah well there's some things I don't want to get used to. Like being in a small room with a dead body..." The lab tech walked out while shaking his head.

Greg was more relaxed himself as Hodges left. The jitteryness of the lab rat had been very distracting and actually slowed down Greg's work. "What was he in for?" Greg asked the prison guard standing outside the cell.

"The prison warden has his files ready for you in his office. Robert Leigh. He was a drug dealer and snitched on many of his inmates to lower his own sentence... Wasn't a very popular guy." The guard went on to give Greg a little more backstory of the victim as they heard noise coming from the cafeteria, where most of the inmates were gathering at the moment.

"What's going on?" Greg asked with raised eyebrows as he walked closer to the guard.

As the noise was getting louder, the guard put one of his hands in front of Greg. "Stay right here. Whatever happens, don't come out that cell, you got that?"

"...What's wrong, I..." Greg had a lot of questions, but the guard hurried into the cafeteria, leaving the CSI alone and confused. Too nervous about the noises to go back to work, he waited for a few minutes until the doors to the cafeteria opened again. But instead of the prison guard, several inmates walked inside as the emergency sirens started blaring. The inmates seemed to be walking up to Greg's cell, but the door closed before they reached it.

Knowing he was more or less safe inside that cell, he tried to stay calm. Trying to listen to what the inmates were yelling at him, some of the things he could decipher as typical cop-bashing. Others, however, seemed to be yelling the order to hand something over. He just didn't know what it was.

They calmed down, but it only took a few minutes until some of them started yelling again. "Where is it?! Hand it over or we'll **kill** you!"

"...I-I don't know what you're talking about. What do you want?" Greg asked frightened.

"The key!"

"...What key?"

"The snitch had a key! Where is it?!"

Greg had collected a key earlier. He had no idea what kind of key it was but knew it was suspicious for a prison inmate to have one in the first place. Because he had been meaning to ask the prison warden about it, he kept it instead of sending Hodges away with it. He wasn't too sure whether or not this was a good idea now. He didn't intend to give the prisoners the key without knowing what it would open, after all. "...I didn't find a key!"

"Liar!" one of them yelled as he threw a plastic cup. "We know you have it! Hand it out!"


	2. Chapter 2

**Thank you guys so much for the Reviews! I always get excited when I read them! :)**

**I'm kinda proud of this story because this is one of those that practically wrote itself and I think the outcome is pretty good (if I may say so) I hope you'll enjoy it!**

* * *

Russell was coming back to the lab from his crime scene when he heard the news about the riot in prison. "...How many injured?"

"_We're not sure yet, they're holding them hostage. We have no contact to them."_

"What about Greg and Hodges?" Silence on the other line. "Come on, Brass. How bad is it?"

"_We don't know, D.B. All I know is that they probably were inside the cell when it started but... I don't know how or where they are now."_

Russell sighed in desperation. "Alright, I'll meet you there in half an hour."

"_I don't know if that's a good idea, it's..."_

"I'm on my way." Russell hung up the phone and hurried through the lab. He made sure all the lab rats got the evidence he just collected before leaving. On his way outside he bumped into Hodges. "David, what... You're here?"

"No reason to stay at this criminal cesspool longer than necessary," he replied rather snarky.

Russell's face was lighting up. "Where's Greg? I need to talk to him."

Hodges walked past him. "You're gonna have to call him, then. He's still at the aforementioned cesspool."

Russell grabbed Hodges' shoulder to turn him back around. "He is?!"

"...Yeah. He sent me away with the evidence. What's wrong?"

"...Ask Mandy, she'll fill you in. I gotta go!" The CSI hurried outside.

* * *

Greg had been yelled at for 20 minutes and was getting impatient. He kept on contemplating handing out the key, hoping that it wouldn't opening anything of importance, anyway, but he just couldn't take the risk. He thought he was safe inside that prison cell, after all, until the door seemed to open a few inches. "...What the...?!" His heart almost stopped beating for a second until the door stopped. He sighed in relief, but the inmates were already trying to fit through the small open space, yelling louder again.

The inmates were able to get their arms inside the cell and started to pull the body closer to them. "...No!" Greg pulled in the opposite direction, causing them to get louder. They started throwing their shoes again and hit Greg several times. He hid behind the bed again as the crowd was able to get the body closer to the door. They got quiet again, trying to fit their dead inmate through the small space. The young CSI could do nothing but to watch the crowd maul the dead body. He could hear the shoulder pop out as they were tearing on an arm.

* * *

Russell met with Brass outside of the prison. "Any news yet?"

The detective shook his head as they walked in together. "We can't contact them."

"That's ridiculous. Greg has a cell phone, why can't you call him?"

"There's no reception inside."

Russell sighed. "There's got to be some way to find out if they're alright..."

"Russell, we need to stay calm and focused now. We're doing our best." When Russell nodded, he went on. "Where's Nick and Sara?"

"Both in California. Sara has a funeral to attend and Nick is on vacation with his new girlfriend..."

"Didn't you call them?"

"What good does it make? They can't help, anyway."

Brass shook his head. "Don't you think they'd want to know?"

"...Know what? We don't know anything. I'll give Sara time to grieve over her aunt and let Nick enjoy his weekend with his girlfriend for as long as I can."

* * *

For the last 15 minutes, the angry crowd kept on trying to fit the dead body through the slightly opened door. Greg could do nothing but watch them and hope help would arrive soon. The alarm system kept blaring the sirens, but no one ever came to help. He was trying to get a signal with his cell phone most of the time, but to no avail.

While the crowd was trying to squeeze the body's head through the small open space, they started yelling again. "You better hand it over!" they yelled as they were trying to open the door by hand.

Greg watched three men pushing against the door, moving it mere millimeters, but yet enough to cause panic in the young CSIs eyes.

The inmates realized that their effort was senseless, so they walked away. Unusual silence was what followed for the next few seconds until Greg heard constant banging against the walls. The inmates tried to break through the wall from the cells next to the one Greg was in.

* * *

"Why don't you just storm in there?!" Russell yelled at the prison warden, incapable to understand his calm way of dealing with this riot.

"Mr. Russell, we can't just storm the prison. There's lives at stake. My men are in there, too. We need to keep our cool in order to get as many people out of there alive as possible."

"...So you don't even plan on getting everybody out of there alive?!"

"Of course we do. But we need to be realistic here. These riots can last days, weeks even. We're doing our best to regain control over this prison, but we have to do it carefully."

Russell sighed. "Can't you try and negotiate with them? Give them something to get my guy out of there."

* * *

The prison inmates were now hammering on both walls of the cell and even managed to bang a hole into one of them. Trying to reach Greg, they stuck their arms through that whole. Greg felt cornered and tried to stay away from them, but because his brain was in panic mode, he tried to avoid them by hugging the cell's door, giving the inmates great opportunity to grab him. "I got him!" one of the inmates yelled as he had a tight grip around Greg's arm. Other inmates quickly rushed to him and grabbed him, too. He franticly tried to snatch away from them as they started patting him down, looking for that key. Greg tried to fight them off in panic but they were quite a persistent bunch.

* * *

Russell was getting more and more anxious as he was waiting inside the warden's office. Sitting around doing nothing was hard to do and he kept trying to think of a way to end the riot without endangering anyone.

"They started a third fire, sir," one of the prison guards said.

"...Where?" the warden asked.

"One of the cells."

"...Which one?" Russell chimed in while receiving an annoyed look by the warden. "Come on, I want to know if it's the cell of the murder victim."

"It isn't. We've got this under control, considering the circumstances. Just sit there and don't get in our way, you got that?"

* * *

"It's not there!" the inmates yelled as they kept patting down Greg. They just couldn't find the key although it was in one of the CSI vest's pockets. The poor CSI could do nothing but to let them look for the key and hope that they wouldn't find it. After several minutes, the inmates finally gave up and let go of Greg. As he could hear them talk in desperation, there were some words they kept repeating. He constantly heard them talk about the warden and his office, but he had no clue what it meant.

He quickly crawled to the other side of the cell, staring at the crowd in terror. Only now he noticed the stench the fire six cells away was causing. The big hall was slowly starting to fill with smoke, but he wasn't given much chance to concentrate on that right now. The inmates were incessantly trying to break through the cell walls to get to Greg and he was desperately trying to think of ways to defend himself in case they were successful. He didn't know it would only take a few more hits until he would need that plan.


	3. Chapter 3

**I'm so happy you like the story! Thank you for the nice reviews! Here's the next chapter!**

* * *

The inmates were finally successful in breaking through the wall of the cell Greg was in. Three men came into the cell, slowly walking up to the CSI who was hugging the one remaining wall in terror. "Hand the key over," one of the inmates said in a calm, but very intimidating voice. "...Or we'll have to hurt you."

Another one of the inmates was holding a brick from the wall in his hand, prompting pictures of Demetrius James, the man Greg ran over a few years ago in self defense, back into the CSI's head. He knew that he had only one chance of getting out of there alive. He had to give up the key. "Alright..." Greg said in a defensive manner, "Just... please don't hurt me..." He was slowly reaching into his pocket to get the key out. When he did, one of the inmates grabbed his wrist before taking the key away from him. Another one grabbed his arm and pulled him through the hole in the wall they hammered.

* * *

Russell was still impatiently waiting in the Warden's office, hoping for some news on Greg's condition.

"Russell, don't give up hope," Brass whispered to him.

"I'm not, I..."

"I can see the look on your face. Greg knows not to provoke them. As long as they don't feel threatened by him they have no reason to kill him. They need him, he's leverage."

Russell gave him a look. "Yeah but I guess these guys are not too fond of CSIs, are they?"

"He'll pull through, I'm sure of it."

Russell sighed as he finally sat down. All this time he was walking around nervously. "It should've been me. I should've taken on this case. I wanted to do him a favor, give him the easier case..." He laughed humorlessly. "Guess that backfired, huh?"

"Come on, you know this is not your fault. Our jobs can get dangerous, we all know that. And he'll get out of there without a scratch, anyway, so don't worry. Any other day, he would've appreciated your favor."

* * *

Without daring to say a word, Greg was being escorted by some of the inmates into another Cell Block where several prison guards were already being held at. Greg had to sit down on the ground in the middle of the hall, together with three prison guards while several inmates were standing around them, making sure none of them would try to overpower them.

"Are you alright?" one of the guards asked Greg whispering.

He nodded. "How about you guys?"

The guard shook his head. "We have three injured in this cell block and don't know where the others are held at. Where have you been all this time?"

"I was locked up in a cell. They broke through the wall to get me out... I had to hand them over some key."

"...What key?"

Greg shrugged. "I think they said something about the warden's office, but I'm not sure."

The three guards shared a look. "No, you must've heard wrong. It's probably a key to the medicine cabinet in the hospital ward. They're probably seeking drugs."

"But they kept saying something about the..."

He got interrupted by another guard. "The key to the Warden's office is an electronic key. You heard wrong."

* * *

The emergency response team had finally come up with a plan to stop the prison riot. Since the inmates gathered in only four different areas of the prison and weren't carrying any firearms, the emergency response team was quickly taking control over the situation and was able to stop the riot. Dozens of prisoners got injured in the process but Greg and the prison guards were rescued without getting harmed.

But before he was allowed to talk to Russell and Brass, Greg was sent into the warden's office. They left him in there waiting for almost three hours. He finally walked in, accompanied by the three guards Greg was talking to earlier.

"...What took you so long? I could've come back later if you didn't have any time for me, you know," the young CSI said annoyed and impatiently.

"I'm sorry, I didn't realize it would take so long." The warden smiled rather coldly. "I want to apologize for the inconveniences you experienced today. I'll make sure the prisoners will have to face consequences."

"...Yeah, fine. I was hoping we could talk about a key I found on Robert Leigh, the murder victim."

The warden looked at Greg all confused. "What key?"

Greg explained his finding, as well as what he had heard when the crowd was shouting at him. The warden and the prison guards were determined to talk Greg into believing that he heard wrong and that the key clearly belonged to the medicine cabinet in the hospital ward. Greg asked to check the lock, but they asked him to come back another time, claiming that they'd need some time after the riot.

"Don't worry, Mr. Sanders. We'll handle this internally. We'll immediately change the lock to the medicine cabinet."

* * *

After the conversation, Greg was finally allowed to leave the prison.

While sitting in the passenger seat of Russell's car, he kept replaying that talk with the warden inside his head. "Russell, can I ask you a question?"

"Sure, what is it?"

Greg went on to tell Russell about the key and the Warden's response. "It just seemed so weird, almost like the warden was scared. Did he mention anything to you?"

"No, nothing."

"Something seemed off about him. I can't point my finger on it, but..."

Russell shrugged. "You've just been through a nightmare, maybe you're reflecting your emotions on him."

"Maybe..." Greg said without sounding too convinced. Something was wrong and he was determined to find out what it was.


	4. Chapter 4

**Hey guys!**

**My last chapter received a Review saying that the real Greg wouldn't have acted the way I wrote a scene. In case anyone else felt that way, I'll write why I think I depicted the "real Greg" in a realistic manner in the last chapter at the bottom of this one. I hope it explains my motivation over why I wrote it that way to anyone who was wondering :)**

**Now have fun!**

* * *

The next day, Nick and Sara were still in California. No one had informed them yet about what happened on Saturday. Greg was sitting in the evidence room for twenty minutes now, staring at the picture he took of the key the inmates wanted so desperately. Russell walked in with a confused look. "What are you still doing here? You're supposed to be at a crime scene."

"Sorry, I'll head out in a minute."

"Brass is waiting for you. He already called me. He was worried about you." Russell glanced over at the picture. "What's this?"

"...Nothing." Greg put the picture back into the file.

"That's from the prison murder. You're off that case, you know that, right?"

"Yeah I know, but you didn't seem to be making any progress in finding out what that key is for."

"Because I already know. The warden told us."

Greg rolled his eyes. "Come on, they started a riot and broke through a wall to get some drugs?"

Russell shrugged. "That's what being locked up like an animal does to you, I guess. Don't obsess about this."

"I'm not. I just don't think that that's all they wanted. They kept on talking about the warden's office, I'm sure it opens something in there..."

Russell patted Greg's back. "It's none of your business anymore, anyway."

"Did you take a look into the office?"

"I was there the whole time."

"No, I mean did you look for anything unusual?"

"Well first of all I was kind of busy fearing for your life." Russell gave him a look. "And second, we don't have a search warrant and don't need one. An inmate turned up dead, all we have to do is find out who did it. That's our job."

Greg jumped off his seat annoyed. "Well then at least question yourself where an inmate could've gotten a key to the medicine cabinet."

* * *

Russell wanted to close the case of the dead prison inmate as quickly as possible, but Greg's input caused him to consider taking a closer look at the case, after all. He was sitting in his office, staring at the files when Greg walked in. "You won't believe it, but I'm already done with my case!" He sat down in front of the supervisor.

Russell raised an eyebrow. "You've been at the scene for two hours. What happened?"

"Well, thanks to officer Winstone, who was the first to respond to the 911 call and was also careless in securing the scene... The suspect was waiting for us inside the house."

"...Is everyone alright?"

Greg sighed tired. "He missed Brass by only a few inches as he shot at him and pushed me against the wall on his way out." He rubbed his hurt shoulder. "I'm telling you, this was the last time I covered for Nick."

Russell couldn't help but chuckle. "I warned you. But it's good no one got injured."

"Yeah well... If there's no new case waiting for me I'd like to take a nap in the break room now."

Russell nodded as he looked thoughtful at the files of the prison murder. As Greg got off his seat, Russell had a suggestion. "When you wake up, maybe we could drive over to the prison again..."

"...Why?"

"I have been thinking and... you might be right. There could be more to this murder and I'd hate to miss it because it's inconvenient to dig a little deeper."

"...Alright. Give me twenty minutes," Greg said with a big smile on his face. It felt good being taken serious.

"Make that half an hour. You need the rest."

* * *

Being way too excited about being back on the prison murder case, Greg didn't get any sleep as he kept turning around on the couch in the break room. After seventeen minutes of trying, he accepted the fact that he'd have to go with coffein instead, grabbed a cup of coffee and walked back inside Russell's office. "I'm ready, let's do this!"

Russell took a look at his watch. "Didn't you want to get some sleep?"

"Yeah but I'm full of energy again and don't need any rest!"

Russell sighed, knowing it was the excitement keeping Greg this energized. "Allright, fine. But don't fall asleep in the car."

* * *

"You said you had Monday and Tuesday off, right?" Russell asked as him and Greg got out of the car.

"Yeah, why?" the young CSI asked as they were walking inside the prison.

"Well I was thinking you could take the whole week off. Nick owes you."

Greg smiled. "Yeah but I'll find another way for him to pay me up."

"I'd rather have you take the week off, really."

"...Why?"

"Because you're overworked. We talked about this."

Greg shrugged his shoulder. "I can handle it."

"...Don't you want some time off?"

Before Greg could answer, they were let inside the prison.

* * *

They took another look inside the dead man's cell, hoping to find something useful. "I think we're wasting our time. The cell doesn't look anything like it did when the guy was murdered anymore."

"If you're uncomfortable being here you can wait outside," Russell suggested.

"No. No, I'm fine. It's just, there's dust from the walls everywhere, the shoes they threw at me lie around... there's just no way knowing if something we'll find was there before the riot or not."

"Just try to be patient for a moment." Russell kept looking around the cell although he knew Greg was right. "Did you get a chance to look through the victim's books?"

Greg shook his head. "The riot started before I got the chance."

"Well then, let's do it." He grabbed a book, reaching it out to Greg who was still standing outside the cell. Russell could see Greg's hesistance before entering and decided to adress it. "You must've been really scared in here."

Greg nodded while entering. Before he grabbed the book, he stared at a brick lying next to him on the ground.

It took a second for Russell to understand what was on Greg's mind. "Probably brought back some old memories."

Greg nodded again, with a sad smile on his face. "But nothing happened this time. I'm fine, he's fine, so..." He shrugged.

"When you first told me about it I was under the impression you were over it."

"I don't think you ever really get over something like that. I've learned to live with it."

Both men were browsing through the eleven books the inmate owned until Russell found something. "Look here." He was holding a little piece of paper in his hands.

"This could be a combination to a lock, what do you think?"

"I think your insticts might be right... Maybe the warden really is hiding something."

* * *

**Okay guys, brief explanation why I think the way I wrote Greg in the last chapter wasn't "out of character", as a reader suggested because Greg handed the key over. First of all: TV-Greg is a bit different from my Greg.**

** I think with all "my" Greg has been through he's not the same character anymore as the one on the show, and that reflects in some of his actions. He's much more cautious, suffers from some sort of traumatic stress and gets into panic mode much more easily, which makes it hard for him to make rational decisions sometimes.**

** With the way I wrote the scene, I don't think he was left with a choice. There was no way for him to get away from the mob. The only choice i saw (and therefor he saw ;) ) was to either get the key out of his pocket or let them take it. I don't think letting them take it would've done any good. In my mind, he was more or less against a wall (both figuratively and literally) and I just didn't see another way.** **And with TV-Greg's experience with a mob, I'd say he'd have reacted the same way, but I guess that's up to discussion.**

** Also, I think he figured that them having a key to the warden's office wouldn't actually help them in any way since the warden was well aware of the riot and prepared for anyone coming at him.**

_**Let me take the opportunity to tell you guys that constructive critizism is always welcome! I try hard to make my stories as believable as possible, and of course as true to the character as I can, but I know I don't always succeed. I hope this time, though, wasn't one of those times and you guys can understand what made Greg do what he did! :)**_


	5. Chapter 5

**Here we go again! :)**

* * *

Because a key they had no idea what it really was for and some numbers on a piece of paper were not nearly enough evidence for a search warrant to the Warden's office, they needed to try another approach. Russell wanted to talk to the warden himself, but Greg came up with an idea that sounded a bit more promising.

"Look, man, we didn't want to do no harm to you," the inmate who took the key out of Greg's hand said in a defensive manner, fearing that Russell and Greg were here because of the riot.

"I know," Greg replied. He actually did believe that. He came out of that riot without a scratch, after all. "But that's not what we wanted to talk to you about." They were sitting in the visiting room with him. "The warden told me that the key you took from me was for the medicine cabinet in the hospital ward."

"So?"

"Well, I find it hard to believe. I heard you guys talk about needing the key for the warden's office."

"Nah-ah, man, you must've heard wrong."

"So all you wanted was drugs?"

The inmate nodded.

"That's funny 'cause you seemed so eager to get the key, yet there's no mention of a drug problem in your files."

"Yeah well, that's what prison does. Made me an addict."

Russell gave him a look. "Your drug tests all came back negative. You don't even smoke."

"So?"

Greg opened the copy of the inmate's files lying on the table. "It says here you got sentenced two years in prison. You've been in here one and a half years already. Seems weird to ruin every chance of getting out of here in six months just for drugs you don't even take."

"Stupid people do stupid things. That's why I'm here, right?"

"Maybe. But there's got to be something else behind the riot. Help us out. You tried to rob a gas station, no one got hurt. We could lower your sentence if you give us some information about it."

"...How much could you lower it?"

"Two, maybe three months."

The inmate contemplated Greg's offer for a very short moment. "We were seeking drugs. That's it."

Greg and Russell tried for another ten minutes to get something out of the prisoner, but he shut down completely and stopped answering any questions. He obviously didn't want to help them.

* * *

The two CSIs interviewed two other inmates and asked the same questions again. Unfortunately, they received the same response every time. The fourth one, however, sent them away after giving them a piece of paper he insisted they read when they left the prison. They did, however, read it as soon as they walked out of the visiting room. _Find the hidden safe inside the office_ – these words were written down on that piece of paper. "I knew it!" Greg exclaimed excited. "The warden's hiding something!"

"And how do you suggest we find it? This note from a more than just doubtful witness is not nearly enough to get a search warrant for his office!"

* * *

Since Russell was right and they were nowhere near a search warrant, they decided to talk to the warden, after all. When Russell first met him, he experienced a calm, dominant and quite arrogant person. Now, he seemed rather soft and nice. "Gentlemen, I appreciate your concern but I guarantee you, there's nothing more to that key. The inmates were simply seeking drugs. Three weeks ago, they started a fire in the cafeteria because of it. A week before that they attacked three of my guards. They're ruthless animals, especially when it comes to their addictions."

"We're well aware of that, but some of the inmates who anticipated in the riot aren't drug users. It rose our suspicions," Russell explained.

The warden grabbed a pen. "Do you have any names? It makes disciplining them a lot easier to know who was involved."

The CSI raised his eyebrows. "Wasn't everybody involved?"

"Some more than the others. And as much as I'd like to, I can't discipline every one of them. Sure, they all lost some of the priviliges they earned, but that's about it."

"How else do you plan on disciplining them exactly? Corporal punishment?" Greg asked with quite an aggressive attitude.

The warden laughed. "Where do you get that idea from, Mr. Sanders?"

He took out some pictures of the murdered inmate. "Leigh's body was covered in bruises. Some suggest he was beaten with a baton."

"You should watch your mouth, son. I don't think you should utter baseless accusations in here. Do you have **anything** to back that theory up?" The warden was quickly showing a much more aggressive behavior, much more like the one Russell witnessed earlier.

"These pictures speak for themselves, if you ask me."

"You were in that cell. You said the other inmates were almost maiming the victim as they tried to get the medicine cabinet key! Any chance **they** used one of the batons they took from my men?!"

Russell laughed humorlessly as he chimed in. "I doubt that. These bruises were caused when he was still alive. It's true, we can't prove that batons were used to cause these bruises yet... But we'll find out what caused them."

* * *

Greg was supposed to take the following week off, but since he was working on the prison case non-stop, there was no way to convince him to do so. Russell knew that and didn't even try, so when Nick came back from his vacation on this Monday night, Greg was rigorously working on the case. He came to work two hours early and was hurrying around the lab to find Russell when Nick walked up to him. "Hey Greg! What are you doing here? Weren't you supposed to..."

Greg needed to interrupt him. "Hey Nick, sorry, can't talk right now!" He ran into Russell's office to tell him about the DNA result he just received. "Russell! You're not gonna believe this!"

Russell sat down on his chair. "What are you doing here already?" He looked the younger CSI up and down. "...You went home yesterday, didn't you?"

"Of course." Greg rolled his eyes. "Listen, I found DNA on the victim's body, he..."

Greg got interrupted by Nick walking in. "Hey Russell. Thanks again for letting me change shifts with Greg." He gave his young colleague an appreciative pat on the back. "The weekend was amazing! How'd it go around here?"

"...Excuse me, I was just about to share some case-breaking news!" Greg said annoyed before turning to Russell again. "The victim had DNA under his fingernails... Warden Jeffrey Tuck is our donor."

Russell looked at Greg shocked. "Are you sure?"

"I ran the test myself. There's no doubt, the victim scratched the warden."

"Huh. Now that's a surprise. How did that happen? Does he even have any contact with the prisoners?"

"He never mentioned it. Weird, huh? And the victim was the one who had the key, after all. It's not a coincindence. The warden's hiding something."

"...What's going on? Do you need my help?" Nick asked a little lost.

"Well, yeah, you and Sara could take on the new case." Russell handed Nick a paper with the informations about the case he was supposed to work on as he got off his seat. "Greg, I'm done playing nice. Let's get this warden!"


	6. Chapter 6

**Thanks again for your support, guys! I'm so glad you like the story!**

* * *

"Explain this to us." Russell threw the DNA results on the warden's desk. "How did your DNA turn up under the fingernails of your dead prisoner?"

"It didn't. Your tests must be wrong," the Warden casually replied.

"...That's it? That's your defense?!"

"I didn't have any conctact with that prisoner whatsoever. I never even met him and I have prisoners and my guards to prove that I haven't been inside the halls or cells for weeks."

Russell gave him a look. "That sounds like an awful excuse. We will ask your guards and inmates, don't think we won't. But since we got physical evidence that links you with our victim, we've got a search warrant for your office." He handed it to him.

The warden didn't look as casual now. "...You can't... you don't have any proof except a questionable DNA result. My lawyer will fight this!"

* * *

After the warden got escorted out of his own office, Russell and Greg started looking for that hidden safe one of the prisoners was trying to tell them about through a note. It didn't take them long to find evidence that this safe used to be inside that office, but it was gone now. "The lock to this cabinet looks like it's been exchanged..." Greg went out of the office to get the key from the Warden, but he claimed he had lost it. The CSI walked back inside and used force to open it. "Hey Russell. Take a look."

The cabinet was obviously emptied out, probably not too long ago. Notches from where the safe used to stand at were clearly visible. After taking some pictures, Greg asked Warden Tuck about it.

"I don't remember what's been in there. I didn't use the cabinet for months."

"Really? Cause I didn't find much dust in there."

"Are you always getting your evidence that way? You should probably think about a carreer change if that's the case." The Warden rolled his eyes annoyed. "Even if I had a hidden safe in there, which I don't, you wouldn't have any business in there."

"Our search warrant tells otherwise. Whatever it is you're hiding, we'll find it!"

* * *

The quite obvious signs of a safe being inside that office before was not all they had found. Robin and Russell were waiting outside the DNA lab while Greg was inside processing a very important piece of evidence they had collected. "I don't get it. Why can't I do it? Don't you trust me with this?" Robin asked confused after getting banned from her own lab.

"No, it's not about you. Greg needs this now. He needs to do that himself," Russell explained.

"But why? I mean I get it, that warden seems to be an ass, but..." Robin got interrupted by Greg signing Russell to come in.

"Excuse me," he said to Robin before entering. "So whose is it?"

"I would've suspected this semen stain on the warden's couch to be his own, or maybe one of his guards... But no. It's the murder victim's... Robert Leigh." He handed Russell the result. "I triple-checked it because I didn't want to believe it. Something weird's going on in that prison."

"Well, I just checked with Doc Robbins... Leigh was sexually assaulted in the last few days before his death. There was some scarring so... it was not the first time. Rape in prison isn't something unusual, but rape inside the warden's office sure is. Are both semen stains his?"

"No, the other one is the warden's. You know, Doc Robbins said Leigh was strangled before he got stabbed. I took another look at the pictures from the crime scene." Greg handed them over to Russell. "Take a look at the blood."

Russell raised an eyebrow. "How could we miss this? It looks like he'd been stabbed while he was on the ground."

"Right. I'm starting to think that the prison cell isn't our primary. Remember the bleach stain in the warden's office on the floor? The victim received a beating before he died, it can get pretty messy. So maybe he was beaten and strangled in the office and then taken to the cell to make it look like it was just another prison stabbing."

For a moment, Russell was caught in Greg's excitement. It took a few minutes before he calmed down again. "Well, how much can we prove? He was lying to us when he said he didn't have any contact with the inmates and he obviously had some kind of sexual relationship with at least one of them. Whether it was rape or consensual we probably can't find out."

"But he had obvious signs of a recent rape."

"But we can't prove it was the warden."

"Yeah but we can prove the warden's DNA under Leigh's fingernails. This could've easily happened while he got beaten."

"You're right. We need to take a look at the warden's hands and arms."

* * *

Not only were they allowed to process the warden's hands and arms, they also got a search warrant for his home. Russell was taking pictures of warden Tuck's hands while Greg was searching through the house. After the supervisor was done, he joined Greg in Tuck's bedroom.

"The warden's hands are covered in bruises he claims he got boxing in his freetime." Russell rolled his eyes. "Unfortunately there's not much we can do to prove otherwise. How's it going in here?"

"Not too bad, I'd say. Look what I found." Greg showed Russell the safe that had been hidden inside the office. It was now hidden in a small space inside the bedroom wall. "He seems to take on a lot of trouble to hide this. Good thing we've got the combination!" Greg took out a copy of the note with the combination they found inside the murder victim's cell and opened the safe, not knowing he wasn't ready for the ugly truth that's been hidden inside that safe for years.

* * *

"It's too bad we couldn't gather much physical evidence for the murder of Robert Leigh," Greg said to the warden as they were sitting in the interrogation room together with Russell and Brass. "We can't thank you enough for helping us out by filming it, though." He shoved pictures of the filmed material over to warden Tuck. "I couldn't sit through the whole movies. Why don't you tell us what they're about?"

"That's not me. Someone's framing me."

Russell laughed humorlessly. "Sorry, you won't get through with this defense. Most of the movies don't show your face too well, but others do. We found 17 DVDs. 13 different victims."

"The riot wasn't about drugs. First I thought they murdered Leigh in order to start a riot. But I get it now. When you murdered him they grabbed the opportunity to finally expose your perverted crimes." Greg could hardly look at Tuck, he was too disgusted.

"They started the riot because they're drug-seeking animals! Your accusations are ridiculous, I didn't do any of that! ...Not that these monsters wouldn't have it coming. Instead of trying to put the blame on me, how about finding who really did this?!"

"We talked with some of your prisoners earlier. Nobody wanted to talk with us until we gave them proof that you were arrested. There were several complaints a few years ago. They suddenly stopped, but hundreds of pleads to get transferred to another prison followed. You terrorized them," Russell said while giving the warden the most disgusted look he could do.

"You filmed the rape of 13 victims... and obviously the murder of one of them, but how many are there, really?" Greg asked. "We looked through the files. In the last three years there have been seven unsolved murders inside your prison. In two of the cases the CSIs didn't even find any suspects because there was just no evidence whatsoever. How many of these are you responsible for?"


	7. Chapter 7

**Here we go, last chapter! Thanks for reading, reviewing, following and favoring this story :)**

**I'm having a mild case of writer's block at the moment, but hope to be able to upload a new story soon! So stay tuned!**

**Big Love,**

**pikapikatchu**

* * *

After that somewhat satisfying interrogation, Greg and Russell talked to some more prisoners as well as the guards. A case this big, they'd usually need some help from their colleagues, but both men were driven enough to do it alone. Russell came back after three hours of questioning guards and inmates while Greg took another hour before coming back. "Russell, I got some great news!" He held a bagged baton in his hand as he walked in. "Guess whose baton this is."

"...I don't know, one of the guards you talked to?"

"It's Tuck's. He's got his own. I checked it for blood and Robin's running the DNA as we speak!"

"Wow, so if this is Robert Leigh's blood, we have him."

"We already do, but this certainly helps us in court. The fingerprints on this baton match Tuck's, so we can put it in his hands."

"That's great." Russell smiled tiredly.

* * *

When Russell walked out of his office at the end of his shift, Nick walked up to him with an upset look on his face. "Why didn't you call me?"

"About what?"

"The riot. I can't believe you didn't care to call me and tell me about it."

"Oh come on, I just didn't want to ruin your weekend. There was nothing you could do, anyway."

"But still, I..."

"You wanted your getaway weekend badly, I didn't want to ruin it for you if I didn't have to. I didn't call Sara, either." Russell patted Nick's back.

"I know but... Next time you call me, alright?"

"Sure," Russell said with a smile on his face while rolling his eyes.

Greg walked up to them. "Hey. Good job today, Russell." He smiled.

"Thanks. You, too." Russell patted Greg's shoulder. "Well, I'm going home. I'll see you tomorrow, Nick and I don't want to see you for the next seven days, Greg, you got that?"

"Sure." Greg snickered. When Russell left, Greg and Nick finally got a chance to talk in private. "So how was your weekend?"

"Great. Yours didn't turn out too good, huh? How are you feeling?"

The young CSI sighed tiredly. "Let me just say that if we wouldn't have been able to arrest the Warden it would've been horrible. With his arrest it was just awful."

"So you've got the next week off?"

"Yeah, Russell insists on it. It's not like I need that much time off, but..."

"Oh come on. You should've taken time off right after they got you out of that prison. Everybody needs some time away from the job every once in a while."

"Yeah, I guess I could find something to do in that time... So you and Lauren, it's getting serious?"

Nick gave Greg a big smile. "Oh yeah."

Greg gave Nick a pat on the back as he started walking.

"You know..." Nick followed. "Her birthday's in two weeks. You have friday in two weeks off, right?" When Greg nodded, he went on. "Good, because I do, too, and she's having a birthday party and wants you to come."

"Sure, I'd love to." He smiled.

"And the saturday after that... you have that day off, too, huh?"

Greg thought about it for a second. "Yeah I do. Why?"

"Well, you know... Her actual birthday is on saturday and I have to work that night and... I was wondering if you could fill in for me."

"...What?"

"Just this saturday night! ...And sunday, maybe."

Greg stared at Nick in disbelieve. "You're awful, you know that?"

* * *

**Ende.**


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